Samsung Called Out on Ortiz’s Selfie With Obama

The White House is pushing back against Samsung Electronics for its promotion of a selfie that Red Sox slugger David Ortiz took with President Barack Obama earlier this week.

White House press secretary Jay Carney said Thursday that the president’s legal team objects to the company’s commercial use of the photograph, which was snapped by Ortiz — who has an endorsement deal with Samsung — while the president was honoring the World Series champion Red Sox on Tuesday.

What seemed like a spontaneous moment on the South Portico at the White House was soon distributed by Samsung to its millions of Twitter followers. The company, noting the type of device Ortiz used to take the photograph, also issued a statement praising the “historic moment” and saying it had coordinated with Ortiz in advance of his White House visit “on how to share images with fans.”

“As a rule the White House objects to attempts to use the president’s likeness for commercial purposes,” Carney said. “And we certainly object in this case.”
Carney declined to say whether White House lawyers are in touch with Samsung about ceasing its use of the photo featuring Obama.
Ortiz, the 2013 World Series MVP, has said the selfie with the president was not part of the deal he has with Samsung. The photo is reminiscent of the selfie Ellen DeGeneres took with A-list celebrities while hosting the Oscars. That image went viral after Ms. DeGeneres, who also has a deal with Samsung, sent it out on Twitter, receiving more than one million retweets.